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Recently in Salon People

Nothing Personal
A good idea at the time
Oh, joy! Dixie Chicks' ode to O.J. pulled from playlists. Britney Spears covers "Satisfaction" ... trust her, she says; and everything you ever wanted to know about panda sex but were afraid to ask.
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Nothing Personal
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Hello, Gonzálezes! Elián's dad and stepmom sure are cute! Boy George: The case of the rapidly descending balls. Plus: Lucy Liu and Bill Murray engage in less-than-angelic on-set behavior!
By Amy Reiter
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Nothing Personal
They're no angels
Lucy Liu and Bill Murray engage in less-than-angelic on-set behavior; Tom Green and Drew Barrymore make a deposit; and Monica Lewinsky ... coming soon to a theater near you?
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[04/14/00]

People Feature
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By Carlos Amantea
[04/14/00]

People Feature
VIP OD'd
When you're always blown away by the things that happen to you, you get so you start missing being blown away by the things that happen to you.
By David Goodman
[04/14/00]

Complete archives for People

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I always asked myself, "How can a civilized country still have such a procedure?" I find it ridiculous. It's not a question of being American or Italian or German. It's just a question of being civilized.

What do you say to people who feel you've emphasized the humanity of death-row inmates at the expense of their victims and the victims' families?

I say, is it bad to do that? Is that a solution -- to take away humanity, to kill people? Is that human? I don't see how people can support coldblooded execution. I don't think that's human.

You've also been criticized for using advertising as a platform for communicating a certain morality while increasing Benetton's bottom line.

Anything you do, even if you write a song -- you can write an engaged and concerned song and sell a lot of records. That happens, right? A lot of American folk singers did that. They made some incredible songs and they became millionaires. And I don't care if they became millionaires. I like their songs. I don't want to make the world better. I'm just trying to make good songs.

And yet Benetton is one of the few companies that take these kinds of advertising risks.

For me it's just normal. That's the way I think, that's the way I live, that's the way I function. I'm very privileged and very lucky to be able to live the way I live, and work the way I work. I'm one of the few, I know. So somehow I feel compelled to do what I do because that's my way of being.

But aren't you exploiting social issues to increase Benetton's brand recognition? Isn't there a contradiction here or at least a problematic relationship?

Listen, a doctor who works with cancer, an oncologist -- does he exploit cancer? He's a rich man because he's a doctor. But do you think when he sees a patient he rejoices and says, "Ah, finally here's somebody with cancer?" Or Frank Gehry the architect, when he's doing a building for Coca-Cola -- do people ask him if he's doing this beautiful building so that Coca-Cola will sell more? Is he exploiting Coca-Cola to do architecture? I think this is a very old way of thinking. I'm exploiting, yes, and I want to exploit in the right way.

When Life magazine makes a cover about war, it makes the cover to inform, but also to sell the magazine and to sell the advertising pages inside the magazine -- Chivas Regal and all the others. So Time magazine and all the others make a cover to inform and to sell. To do what I do, I do that to sell but also to inform. And as soon as you inform, people point a finger at you and say, "You are exploiting!" No. It's the people who don't even inform [who are exploiting]. It's Prada bullshit, or Gap bullshit, or Chanel. They don't even inform. They make people stupid. I don't care about the rejection; I'm not afraid to be rejected. Actually, it's a big honor in this world.

You once said that death is the last pornographic issue. Can you explain?

Death is not something we deal with in a relaxed way. Like sex -- why is sex pornographic? Sex is not pornographic at all. We just don't deal with sex in a relaxed way. Anything we don't deal with in a relaxed way is pornographic. War is pornographic. War is one of the most pornographic human activities that exist.

Americans don't give a fuck about death. Nobody talks about death. Everybody's immortal there, especially in advertising. Everyone is beautiful, young, sexy. Everyone wants to have a one-hour orgasm. There is a way now to have a one-hour orgasm. Can you imagine? What a bore! What's the point?

But you've spent a great deal of time in America.

Oh, yes, this is my country. And this is the place, because you can say anything you want in America. There is the worst, but there is also the best, in America. When Europeans talk about America it makes me laugh. They don't know. America is anything you can say, do, be ... There are the dumbest but also the most intelligent people in America. Americans are great because they get so mad, they get so passionate.

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